Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday called his last run for president “painful” and “humbling,” but outlined reasons he may try again in 2016. Regardless of his decision, he promised he won’t simply “ride off into the sunset.”

The Republican’s 2012 presidential campaign burned out quickly amid a series of high-profile missteps, including forgetting one of the three federal agencies he said he wanted to eliminate during a nationally televised debate.

But Perry said at a lunch sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor that he learned a great deal from that experience, and stressed that he plans to remain in the public arena, regardless of whether he runs in 2016.

“I’m glad I ran in 2012,” he said. “As frustrating, as painful and as humbling as that experience was — it was painful, it was very humbling.”

But Perry bristled when asked why he would want to go through the “pain” of a campaign again.

“I’m a patriot — I do care about where this country is headed,” he said. “I’m a competitor. I believe states competing against each other makes the fabric of our country stronger. Regardless of whether I decide to make a run for the presidency or not, I hope to stay engaged in that arena.

“… I’m getting to be a bit of an elder statesman,” Perry added, as he noted that he may not run and made a reference to his much buzzed-about designer glasses. “But I’m not going to ride off into sunset.”

Perry has a team of political advisers that have facilitated briefings for him on a range of policy issues, and he has also made several trips abroad as he seeks to recast himself as thoughtful and well-versed in world affairs.

He posited over the lunch that should he run again, he will be much better-prepared. Perry allies also note that when he last ran, he was suffering from back pain, but he said that he is in good health now, even detailing his workout regimen for the reporters in attendance (he quit running and is now focused on core exercises — “sit-ups, pull-ups, crunches, plank,” and he rides a bike about 45 minutes a day).

“The bigger lesson for me was in the preparation,” he said, noting that winning in Texas — he is the longest-serving governor in the Lone Star State’s history — doesn’t necessarily mean one is ready for the national spotlight. “… Preparation is the single most important lesson I learned out of that process. Over the last 18 months I’ve focused on being substantially better-prepared — please don’t take that as an indication that I’ve made a decision that I’m going to run or not — but if I do, next year, make that decision, I will be prepared.”

In another glimpse of 2016 politics, Perry also downplayed the impact fellow Texan and possible White House rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, has had on the state party. Cruz is revered by many Lone Star State conservatives, who consider him the most influential person in the Texas GOP.

“We all get our 15 seconds of fame, whether it was [former Gov.] Ann Richards or whether it was George W. Bush or whether it was Rick Perry or whether it was Ted Cruz,” Perry said.”… Ask me in eight years if Sen. Cruz has made an impact on the state. At this particular point in time, it’s a little early to say if one senator would have substantively changed … the state.”

Asked whether Perry could compete in a 2016 field in which several likely contenders are younger and represent new faces in the party, he joked that “66 is the new 46.”

“Age is substantially less important than ideas and experience,” he said, noting that message should particularly resonate with Republicans who view President Barack Obama as someone who came to the job relatively inexperienced.

Throughout the lunch, Perry weighed in on a number of policy issues — expressing skepticism about climate change arguments, for example, and dinging several recently approved environmental regulations. But Perry, who is deeply socially conservative, also said that the party has “gotta stop being distracted by all the side issues” and should instead focus on bigger issues, like a “cogent foreign policy” and “strong economy.”

He also sought to walk back a remark he made last week, in which he likened being gay to alcoholism.

“I stepped right in it,” he said, urging a broader focus on pro-growth messages.